Le semestre...

My semester currently will look like this (names of classes in language in which class will be taught):

MONDAYS:

10:15-12:15 Dispute Resolution;

TUESDAYS:

8-10 Corporation Law,

12:30-2:30 Fondements de la politique économique et mondialisation,

2:45-4:45 Droit administratif,

5-7 Fondements;

WEDNESDAYS:

12:30-2:30 Fondements de la politique économique et mondialisation,

2:45-4:45 Français;

THURSDAYS:

8-10 Person, Personhood, Comparative Study,

10:15-12:15 Droit des contrats,

12:30-2:30 Droit international privé,

5-7 Español;

FRIDAYS:

8-10 Microéconomie,

5-7 Accountancy

Um.

Ok. Right now we still are in the Cycle préparatoire, a glorified orientation, which I will be happy to have over. I want to just plunge into things for real, especially my classes in languages other than English...which on some level totally terrify me. I hope it will be okay once we get going, but a big part of it is that everything is so formulaic, so structured, and I feel like I came in during the middle of Act II, Scene II...and speaking all my lines with a horrendous accent! On that note, it's totally time for a petite pause tartelette framboise.

And then I remember why I am here....

Where in the world is...uh...rue Cortambert?

It's a good question, n'est-ce pas? Seeing as this Cortambert dude appears to have been a geographer. Well, this is where I live here.

Ok. Not quite there.

But more like here.

Yes, rue Cortambert. But that other picture is just a block away (it is the mairie, like the town hall, for my arrondissement). Paris is divided into arrondissement: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrondissements_of_Paris. I live in the 16th: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_arrondissement_of_Paris.

I now have a landline, so it's somewhat cheaper for you to call me, depending on your calling plan. Either e-mail me, or leave a comment to this post requesting the number. The first time it rang I didn't recognize it as a ringing phone noise. Ooops. It is that beautiful blue thing above...29 euros and two Dartys (http://www.darty.com/) later.... I should probably figure out if there is some way to change the ring tone. In the alternative, Skype is nice....

And yes...those are homemade fresh blueberry-raspberry muffins. Oh...and while we're on that subject, why yes, that is cheesecake that you smell cooking in the oven.... You can take the girl out of America, but you can't take the American baking out of her (despite the utter lack of necessary ingredients: cream cheese, baking powder/baking soda, etc.!). Resourcefulness is a virtue!

Bienvenue chez moi

Welcome! Come in! Here is the hallway.

I’ll spare you the bathroom off to the right. Yes, it stinks. Any ideas what that stench could be? Egh. Mon dieu! I do not know what to do! I’ve even spent a lot of time in there with Mr. Clean (er, I’m sorry, that’s M. Propre) including singing that song from his U.S. commercial. Now it smells like lemon masking something rotten and dead. Dégu!

Well, next on our brief tour, is the kitchen. Please keep your hands inside the vehicle at all times, ladies and gentlemen. Food is not cheap here, and there will be no snacking, thank you very much. I also feel like I’m buying food every two minutes because there is no storage. Every meal makes me feel like I’m back in hunter-gatherer times having to go to Monoprix (the big supermarket chain, where you can buy aaaaanything). Also please keep your feet inside the vehicle at all times, I just washed that floor. I have not even been here a week and I have done more cleaning than I can ever remember doing in my last apartment…..

Next we have the living/sleeping/eating/everything room (it’s amazing what 850 euro/month cannot get you in Paris)…. I spared you shots of the other side of the room where I had yet to clean the table. There is also a second bed, a TV, some drawers, and some lamps that you probably are not seeing…. I have to keep a little mystery so folks will come visit me, right?

And finally, the thing that makes it all worth it, the reason for being: my pretty little balcony. Now, if they would just stop doing construction work on the Indonesian Embassy, or whatever that is next door, at the rump-crack-of-dawn!

The return of the suitcases

I have been delinquent. A little over a year ago I promised to start posting again on my "next" trip to France. Since that promise I have been back and forth to France three times without a post. Je m'excuse.

In my own defense, I was on crutches with a broken foot during my 2-week August 2009 trip (lesson: DO NOT make a transatlantic flight with a recently broken bone). Misty T. Kitty was less than impressed too....

My 1-week January 2010 trip I flew Boston-Iceland-Paris (this was pre-volcano-unpronounceable's spewing) I was jetlagged enough and my hosts were in an awkward enough way that again no posts (lesson: $470 roundtrip airfare might just be too out of the way, adding 4ish extra hours onto the trip in each direction, that it becomes not worth it).

Then, on my 2.5 day June 2010 trip I was only on French soil for a long weekend and I spent about 89% of that meager time studying for the NY Bar Examination (lesson: yes, a long weekend in Europe is entirely possible...but just not during bar prep)!

BIG take away lesson: All of these trips over the last year were shorter (2 weeks), and shorter (1 week), and then shorter yet (2.5 days!) in length. That's not right. So, with an eye toward remedying that, this Friday I'm moving to France.

Thus, the RETURN OF THE SUITCASES! Which, on my first trip back in January 2009, I was allowed to bring 2 for the price of my plane ticket. This trip I will be charged $50 extra for my second suitcase. Sorry, American Airlines, a transatlantic move will be impossible in just one suitcase.... Plus, the cat's put on some weight since the last trip and gotten way feistier about trying to make her way not just on top of the suitcase, but actually into it....

And one final post...

This is one final post-- at least for the time being-- to inform you that I am safely back in the U.S. I say "for the time being" because I will likely add a post or two when I return to France in the future-- which is to say, roughly 10 weeks from now. I feel fortunate to have had such an incredible experience. Words are inadequate, so I will leave with you with these few French feline photos and best wishes for a splendid summer!

La fin de la fin de la fin de la...

Noyant d'Allier, Auvergne

Noyant d'Allier, Auvergne

I spent last weekend during the canicule (heatwave) in Noyant d'Allier, visiting my college roommate, Doris. My what a difference from my visit in early February when there was still snow on the ground!

Noyant d'Allier, Auvergne

Prior to this May visit to Noyant I went out to Senlis, in Picardie last Thursday because it was the Ascencion holiday, so I did not have class. Since seeing the movie Séraphine, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9raphine, which revolves around an artist in Senlis, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9raphine_Louis, Susan and I had been discussing a trip to Senlis (where she used to live many years ago) to see some of Séraphine's artwork. It did not disappoint, nor did the church!

Senlis, Picardie

As for disappointments-- what's with French grading!? Also, why are my language grades markedly better than my average law grades!!?? For the uninformed, French grading is out of 20, unlike the American "A" to "F" system. French grading is also notoriously rigorous, especially compared to the typical American grade inflation. In France, anything above a 10 is passing, but it's virtually impossible to get anything about a 16! My grades range from an 11.13 to a 16 and a 16.5. Evidentally I did not entirely understand the French expectations, format, wording of the questions, etc. Tant pis. Oh well. I'll take it, but I'll engage in that favorite Jewish pastime and kvetch a little too.... *winks*

Senlis, Picardie

Observations upon babysitting

Month old French kittens in the jardin. There were 4, but only 3 are in this photo because mama cat wasn't letting me too close.

Misty, don't be jealous, dear; I'm not cheating on you with French kitties. I promise!

Exams are over and life at the Alliance Française is going nicely! I am meeting amazing people (e.g. a Hungarian law graduate, a Jordanian woman raising kids in France while her husband completes medical training here, a Chinese film director, a Mexican computer programmer, an Irish nurse, etc.) and learning, even if not 100% enough to understand this culture. Nonetheless, for the second time since in France I accepted an offer to babysit. I understood the kids much better than the first time. I marvel at how much in these past couple of weeks I am grasping more and more; language acquisition is a phenomenal process. Query: are little kids this thrilled when they become able to convey new ideas in their mother tongue?! As my French improves, it is like an image on television slowly coming into focus, or like tuning a viola and finally hitting the right pitch.

So, Saturday night Geraldine and her husband went to a concert in Paris, I looked after their five-year-old Hortence-- Ok. I appreciate cultural differences in naming, and as Shakespeare aptly observed (see Romeo and Julliet) a rose would smell just as sweet if named something else...but!?-- and her twelve and thirteen-year-old brothers Ambroise and Gregoire. Though not an au pair-- thanks for incessantly asking-- I must have some "expertise" to share, having now babysat for two French families; thus, some observations:

(1) "Cacao" is evidentally universal. So is "Nesquick."

(2) Dora (la exploratrice) is also universal. BUT...um...chers français, my Dora speaks English and Español. My Dora does not speak Français! Hortence was adorable; when her maman introduced us she was initially shy, but then we discovered we had Dora in common. Then, after her parents left she would not let me out of her sight and wanted to be BFFs (best friends forever). Until....

(3) Well, let's just say that all five-year-olds are the same:

Me: "à ta chambre?" [To your room?] "Tu es prête à dormir?" [Ready to sleep?]

Hortence: "Non! laissez-moi tranquille" [Leeeeeemee alone!]


*Her eyelids get heavy, but she keeps fighting sleeeeeep*


Me: "Mais, c'est mieux dans ta chambre!? Vas-y!" [But it's better in your room! Go along!]


Hortence: "Non!"


*She proceeds to fall asleep on the living room couch with the Dora blanket.*

View of Place de la Concorde, from La Madeleine

View from atop the Arc de Triomphe

Arc de Triomphe

Cat is what's for dinner?

Because I have exams this week I suspect I will not be updating this blog too frequently. Thus, I am going to simply leave you with the above photos and get back to studying. Doesn't it feel like such a shame to be in France and be sequestered in a room studying obscure legal provisions?

1. Exams, 2. Sketchy Train Dude, 3. Future Flight

Photos in this post are in Conflans and along the Seine near where I am living. Often I think to myself, this must be the most beautiful place in the world...especially walking along the Seine...I couldn't imagine being anywhere else!

1. With one meager week to spare, the Université de Cergy-Pontoise finally informed us of the days and times of our exams. Merci...mais...I was scheduled to be in Paris in a much more exciting-- not to mention educational-- French class at precisely the same time. C'est dommage! So, after a tense day of exchanging pissy e-mails, I have arranged to take my French class in the afternoons, and my exams in the mornings. After this zaney week of exams and class, I will have two splendid weeks of just French class, just for me. This is at the Alliance Française Paris, not for academic credit, not for anything save for my own edification and enjoyment. Thus far, it has been the highlight of my time here. Honestly, law classes here have left me a little uncertain. The universities are in upheaval; the semester has been tumultuous and disorganized. Though I can appreciate difficulties in a different system, I feel caught in the middle and compromised....

2. Speaking of "caught," tonight Susan and I are walking the dog and this guy comes up to us-- this sketchy guy who she evidentally knows. Then I realize this is the same sketchy guy I've met and talked to twice in the train station. The first time was early in the morning when I was going to visit my friend Doris and sketchy train dude and I talked about Bush and Obama, with my crummy French, and I was pretty sure he was going to try to either rape me, or kill me, or both! Something is really not mentally right with him! Then there I was tonight and Susan knows this guy and he knows her. A bizarre conversation ensued, with all the typical french kissing on the cheeks, etc., etc., etc. A few weeks ago sketchy train guy had also randomly remarked to Alain (Susan's husband) "DO YOU KNOW!? There's a blonde girl living in your house!?"So then tonight sketchy train guy proceeds to ask me, how long I have been in France. And I reply in French "I am leaving at the end of this month." Then it starts thundering and lightening so we take the dog inside. Yes! A convenient exit. So here I am.

3. Here I am and here I go. June 1 I return to Maine. I'll work. Then at the end of the summer, August 15-29, I will return to Paris. Right now the details are up in the air. The only thing I know is that I have a round trip ticket from Logan to De Gaulle. Presently, that is all I know, all I need to know, and thus all you know. Bonne soirée!

Post-- Fontainebleau Fun

1. Le mardi dernier je suis allée à Fontainebleau http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fontainebleau pour voir une amie. I never realized that Christine, who I had an English class with during university, had lived in Fontainebleau. Her father is a professor and had taken a sabbatical year to teach here, about twelve years ago http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INSEAD. Each year he continues to return, and this year for the first time she returned along with him. Thus, we decided to meet in Fontainebleau. It was a marvellous day catching up, enjoying a yummy lunch and white wine, and seeing some of the chateau, forest, campus, and village. She starts law school, http://www.northeastern.edu/law/, in the fall-- good luck to her!

2. In other news, I am contemplating fun things like the July 2010 Maine Bar Exam and courses for my LAST year of law school! Next fall: (1) Business Associations, (2) Immigration Law, (3) Independent Writing advised by Prof. Norchi--http://mainelaw.maine.edu/faculty/profiles/norchi.jsp, (4) Taxation, (5) Trial Practice. During fall semester I will also continue to study French. I could have the opportunity to return to France for my final semester, spring 2010. I am very conflicted about this; there are many pros and many cons. Ultimately, I think it is likely I will take my last semester in the U.S. and return to France for a more extended time to live and work after the bar exam.

3. I have also been thinking about the remainder of this semester! One month from today I return to the United States. While I am happy that two days after that I will be in Immigration Court on a pro bono case I have been assisting for awhile, and one week after that I will be starting my summer position at Robinson, Kriger & McCallum www.rkmlegal.com, this semester in France has not been nearly long enough! Next week my four weeks of intensive French at the Alliance Française http://www.alliancefr.org/ commence. Supposedly, the following week, I have exams for my law courses in Cergy, but it has been impossible to get an answer from the law faculty regarding when precisely these alleged exams will be held. I e-mail the dean and program secretary daily, not to mention speaking directly to the secretary everyday I am on campus. I have only been trying to ascertain this information since last fall. I am growing frustrated, but I know that everything will work out in the end. It has only taken me one semester in France to learn how to spell the word "bureaucracy" correctly in English!

Les vacances III: Strasbourg [AMENDED, May 1]

I am back from Strasbourg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strasbourg with my arm still entact, despite the best efforts of the Paris Metro to amputate it! Thank you unknown man who pushed the doors apart, otherwise I would be pecking away at the keyboard one-handed! I'm going to upload pictures later because I have to get them developped and scanned. It was not until I was onboard the TGV http://www.tgv.com/FR/ and some schmuck started snapping photos--nothing like flash dazzling your eyes at eight AM-- that I realized I'd left my nice camera back in Conflans. So, when I arrived in Strasbourg, I headed directly to the Monoprix http://www.monoprix.fr/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoprix and for 4.50 euro purchased a disposable camera. [May 1 UPDATE-- thank you 1 hour developping at Auchan Cergy, 20-some-odd-euros later, plus scanning, plus cropping, plus blablabla, we have some images!]All in all the city was charming in an overly-touristy-type of way. It was nice, but I can't quite put my finger on what I disliked. Was it all the porky Alsacian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alsace food? The feeling of being more in Germany than in France (both the attitude of people and the architecture and...)? The offputting mall http://www.placedeshalles.com/ built essentially atop what was a synagogue in the 1800s until the Nazis destroyed it in 1940?
Don't get me wrong, there was plenty that was very appealing about Strasbourg-- the European Court of Human Rights http://www.echr.coe.int/echr/, kugelhopf glacé http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gugelhupf, bretzels http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretzel, fleur d'Alsace glace (think vanilla/kirsch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirschwasser ice cream), the sweet gentleman in the Gingerbread Store with whom I had a delightful little conversation in French, the stunning cathedral http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strasbourg_Cathedral, etc. It is just that after Nantes, and Conflans, and Paris, and yes, even Cergy, Strasbourg is not home.... Nice to visit, and glad I did, but that is that!

Les Vacances II: Je suis revenue de Nantes

J'aime beaucoup cette très jolie ville! I love gorgeous, enchanting Nantes. This city has restored my faith in running in France. Since arriving I have only run several times, which is bizarre since I used to run virtually every day in Portland-- usually on a treadmill during winter. Here, though, I quickly tired of strange looks and comments outdoors, not to mention the gym at Cergy (a sketchy, male-dominated sauna with limited equipment-- read: not even worth the 16 euro fee for the semester). Now that it is warmer I do see more runners in parks, but almost never just on streets, and always men, rarely women.

Thus, I was delighted when the first morning in Nantes there was a marathon. Even non-racers were out jogging each day, even in rain! In fact, while waiting at an intersection for runners to pass, a lady--clearly a native French speaker, not from Nantes-- asked me if I was from Nantes and proceeded to ask directions before I could even explain that not only was I not from the city, or the country, but that I'm hopelessly directionally challenged. Also, I was wearing an American sweater, French pants, and holding an Italian umbrella, but okay.... *giggles*

I'm trying to do this chameleon-blending-in-thing. You know, it seems to help so that every sketcho on public transportation doesn't make disgusting come-ons to you in French. The unintended consequence, though, is getting asked for directions! Do I look like I know where I am going? I wish I knew where I am going. I mean that in a different sense, though...a sense that perhaps is a little larger...perhaps.

In terms of direction, I am working on this language learning schtuff, and it was splendid to spend several days just using French. My language skills are limited, but it was enjoyable to go to restaurants (particularly Creperie Heb-Ken and La Cigale http://www.lacigale.com/), go to movies (see "Welcome" if you get the chance-- it was quite well done, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1314280/, http://www.premiere.fr/film/Welcome), and do everything in French. This was essentially the first time in France that I have not been travelling with other English speakers. I am realistic that this language acquisition thing is entirely a work-in-progress, and I will return to the U.S. and continue learning and learning and learning...and have I mentioned learning?! There are moments when I despair that I will never really speak French. Stupid neural networks-- language learning DOES get harder as you get older. I didn't have these problems with my first three languages, honestly!

Well, I ought to go finish unpacking from this Nantes adventure and get repacking for Strasbourg! À tout à l'heure!

Les vacances: Part I

Bonsoir à tous! Mom and I have said our goodbyes. She was visiting France this past week, mainly in the Paris area, but also with one day at "les plages du débarquement" in Normandie.

First, we started at the museum in Caen, http://www.memorial-caen.fr/portail/index.php. Then, we saw Omaha Beach, the American Cemetery, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_American_Cemetery_and_Memorial, and several of the other beaches.

There is this still palpable sense of history always alive here. It is eerie. I recall when I first arrived in France during late last January and early February and meeting people who after learning I was American would start talking about WWII and express their appreciation. Likewise, the woman I live with (who is American, although she has lived in France for the past 28 years) has described how an elderly French lady at her Church gives her little gifts of gratitude like a clock, because for this French lady she symbolizes "America."

Tomorrow mom will fly home to America. Tomorrow I will travel to Nantes mainly to explore the area and see if it would be livable were I to return to teach, after I complete my J.D., in spring 2010. Thus, my "Les vacances: Part II" blog entry can be expected once I return from Nantes...probably around Wednesday. The third installment will come about a week from now when I return from another mini-excursion to Strasbourg. I figure, train rates are affordable, and I should explore as much of France as possible in my remaining time here. The reality is that time is rapidly running. Before I know it I will be back in America myself!